In like Flynn as Meath snatch victory in dramatic style

NFL DIV 2 Late two-pointer rescues win for dominant Royals

Meath ..................................2-1-15 (23)

Cavan ..................................1-1-16 (21)

After his heroic performance in the opening round win over Derry Jack Flynn once again delivered when it mattered most as Meath maintained their winning start to NFL Div 2 with victory over Cavan in Breffni Park on Sunday.

A dominant Meath display looked destined for defeat when a rare error by Donal Keogan gifted Gearoid McKiernan a point and then seconds later substitute Caoimhan McGovern came up with a lead score just 90 seconds before the hooter was due to sound.

However, it is becoming a familiar trait with this particular Meath side not to panic. Sean Brennan got his kickout away and the ball was worked up to Flynn who found himself in a yard of space to the right of the 40-metre arc and unleashed a boomer that went over the bar with plenty to spare.

There was still 52 seconds left on the clock when Cavan restarted, but Flynn won possession and the ball was fed into Jordan Morris and the Kingscourt Harps man, who knows the Breffni pitch like the back of his hand, took one look at the posts and kicked over the insurance score.

There wasn't even time to restart as the hooter blew and Meath's fist victory in Breffni Park in 61 years (five games) was confirmed.

It was a sensational finish to a pulsating game. Meath were clearly the better side, but a combination of wastefulness and harsh refereeing allowed Cavan stay in contention and their doggedness looked like being rewarded in those dying seconds.

Defeat would have been cruel on Meath who trailed for less than four minutes across the whole contest, but such was their wastefulness, kicking 12 wides, dropping seven efforts short and hitting the frame of the goals three times, that Cavan grew into the game in the belief that the Royals didn't finish them off.

Many of Meath's wayward shots were as a result of being trigger happy. They must be credited for not taking a cautious, slow approach, but some of the execution of shots from distance was below par and must be corrected ahead of the third round clash with Louth in Croke Park on Valentine's night.

An indication of just how hard Meath had to work for their scores is evident in that none of their points came from frees with their only score from a placed ball coming from Jordan Morris's excellently executed 46th minute penalty that restored the Royal's lead 2-9 to 1-10.

Despite that low shot percentage return, Meath still had a great spread of scorers with nine different players on target and all six of the starting forwards hitting the mark.

There were also a few decent goal chances created in the first-half that had they been converted Meath might have been out of sight by half-time, but Cavan were allowed stay in the game

The first minute and 15 seconds that Meath found themselves behind for was after Dara McVeety pointed the hosts ahead in the second minute before Sean Coffey popped up with an equaliser after great work by Morris.

Meath didn't trail again until the 48th minute and led for most of that period with Mathew Costello adding a point after Morris had hit the upright and Flynn was denied a goal by a fine save from Liam Brady.

Oisin Brady cut through the heart of the Meath defence too easily to restore parity, but a quick solo and go by Ciaran Caulfield set up Morris for the Lead score for Meath again.

Ruairi Kinsella cut in from the right to double Meath's lead in the 12th minute and a minute later he took advantage of a mistake by Oisin Brady and a slow retreating Liam Brady to lob the goalkeeper for Meath's first goal and a 1-4 to 0-2 advantage.

Gearoid McKiernan took advantage of sloppy Meath tackling to land a single point free and a mammoth two-point free to narrow the deficit to 0-5 to 1-4, but Meath's resilience and character saw them reassume control and restore a five point lead with Morris, Kinsella and Duke pointing in a spell when Caulfield had a goal chance, but opted to pass to Cian McBride at the far post whose punched effort hit the woodwork.

Cavan's best five minutes saw them get back on level terms as Oisin Brady and McKiernan pointed on the counter-attack either side of Peter Corrigan's goal which came after a sustained period of patient build up before the corner-forward cut through the heart of the defence and finished well to make it 1-7 each.

Eoghan Frayne ended Meath's 10 minute barren spell after a great run by Costello, but McVeety's quick solo and go led to another leveller for Cavan.

Meath did have one last chance to taker a lead into the half-time break, but Morris's centre was punched by McBride against a combination of the goalkeeper and the post as Cavan stayed on level terms.

Costello restored Meath's lead with a fisted point 38 seconds after the restart, but frees for McKiernan, after Meath were slow to get beyond the 20-metre arc for a kickout, and from Oisin Brady, for a harsh 'throw ball' call, gave Cavan the lead for a second time.

That advantage lasted less than two and a half minutes as a brilliant passage of play involving Caulfield and Morris set McBride through on goals before he was hauled down and a penalty was awarded which Morris drove low to the net off the right-hand post to make it 2-9 to 1-10.

After Oisin Brady free kept Cavan in touch, but James Conlon pointed from a decent goal chance and then Caulfield got on the scoresheet to edge Meath into a 2-11 to 1-11 lead in the 51st minute.

That three-point gap was maintained when Cormac O'Reilly and Conlon traded points, but another harsh refereeing call gifted McKiernan a 13 metre free and then he added another from play before Gerard Smith restored parity, 1-15 to 2-12, with 13 minutes remaining.

Morris and McKiernan (another free) exchanged scores to maintain parity, but when Conlon made it 2-14 to 1-16 in the 67th minute there was a sense that Meath had finally asserted their supremacy.

However, there was as much drama jammed into the final 90 seconds as you'd see in a two-hour Hollywood blockbuster as McKiernan fisted over after Keogan's rare as hen's teeth error to bring Cavan level before McGovern gave them the lead for just the third time with 90 seconds left on the clock and three minutes into actual injury-time.

However, Meath never panicked and Flynn held his nerve to nail a two-pointer before Morris delivered the final blow as Meath secured their second win in dramatic, stunning fashion.

Meath - Sean Brennan; Seamus Lavin, Sean Rafferty, Brian O'Halloran; Donal Keogan, Sean Coffey (0-1), Ciaran Caulfield (0-1); Bryan Menton, Cian McBride; Conor Duke (0-1), Ruairi Kinsella (1-2), Jack Flynn (0-2 two-pointer); Jordan Morris (1-4 1-0 penalty), Mathew Costello (0-2), Eoghan Frayne (0-1). Subs - James Conlon (0-3) for Duke half-time, Jason Scully for Frayne 53m, Adam O'Neill for McBride 59m, Jack O'Connor for Costello 61m, Oisin Martin for Kinsella 72m.

Cavan - Liam Brady; Jason McLoughlin, Niall Carolan, Paddy Meade; Ciaran Brady (Arva), Dara McVeety (0-2), Gerard Smith (0-1); Cormac Brady, Conor Brady; Cormac O'Reilly (0-1), Ryan Brady, Tiernan Madden; Oisin Brady (0-4 two frees), Gearoid McKiernan (0-9 one two-point free, four frees), Peter Corrigan (1-0). Subs - Ryan Donohoe for R Brady half-time, Ciaran Brady (Corofin) for Corrigan 48m, Caoimhan McGovern (0-1) for O'Reilly, Eoin Clarke for Cormac Brady both 67m, Tristan Noack Hofmann for O Brady 70m.

Referee - Kieran Eannetta (Tyrone).